الملخص الإنجليزي
This study is aimed at revealing the extent to which the approaches to Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) are integrated within the content of Grade Four science textbooks in the Basic Education in the Sultanate of Oman. The study sample consisted of the first and second parts of Grade Four science textbooks developed by the University of Cambridge. The sample was selected from the study population, which included science textbooks for international series for grades (1-10) in the Sultanate of Oman for the academic year 2020-2021.
To answer the study questions, the researcher used a content analysis tool, which was composed in its final form of 53 issues, distributed into seven main areas of the Science, Technology, Society and Environment approach (STSE): air, water, soil, environment and energy, food and health, society, and technology. Besides, the researcher adopted the whole paragraph as a unit for content analysis. The validity of the data collection tool was checked and guaranteed.
The current study showed that the content of the science textbooks for Grade Four included the STSE issues to the size of (27.12%) of the total number of textbook units analyzed. The results also showed that the extent of inclusion of the STSE issues in the analyzed content varies from one field to another. For instance, it was (10.6%) in the field of environment and energy, (5.82%) in the sphere of food and Health, (4.7%) about air, (2.5%) regarding water, (1.8%) field of technology, (1.2%) in the area about Soil and (0.5%) related society. It specifically appeared prominent in the field of environment and energy, especially in the lessons related to the environment. However, that appearance was just in the form of implicit images and sentences rather than in the form of planned environmental, social and technological issues.
The study recommended the need to integrate STSE issues in curricula in general and in the science curriculum in particular.
